Omg we just got Alexa

[reddressinggown]

Tell me what fun things she does

This is freaky!

@Bowlofbabelfish I genuinely don’t understand why people show so little concern for their privacy. It’s not that governments are using these devices to spy on people it’s that these devices have the potential to record everything. We trust these companies not too- as if these tech companies have such high ethical principles! And think about all the data that they can link together from your phone lap top and home devices. It’s to create a full profile of your habits so you can be targeted more effectively by advertising. It’s already so hard to resist advertising- imagine how difficult it becomes when they have such detailed information. I used to work in marketing and did some consulting for one of the big tech companies. Believe me they are pissing themselves laughing about how easily people give up their personal information- for free!
I truly believe that our children will question us on how we allowed this erosion of privacy to happen- much like we do today with environmental degradation.
Now where is my tin foil.....

so is alexa a dot or something else i read somewhere if you dont have amazon prime or spotify there will be no use buying one as the functions they have without these things are virtually nil

I pay 3.99 for music unlimited on my main one so I can get loads of songs ... I use it for reminders/timers/shopping list/asking internet stuff/lights/electric blanket/heating (all through Hive) ... I love Alexa ... only problem I had was when son gave my password to a friend and my heating got set to 28 degrees in the middle of the summer - quickly changed it after he'd deleted app

so is alexa a dot or something else i read somewhere if you dont have amazon prime or spotify there will be no use buying one as the functions they have without these things are virtually nil

It's an echo or an echo dot, and no if you don't have Spotify or prime it makes little difference to what it does, unless you are a huge music buff. Thr functions you read about on here, quizzes, reminders, radio,questions, weather, news, games, Calculator, translations, jokes, stories or whatever do not need music streaming services.

bluntness you are deliberately misunderstanding me.

I am not saying that the government is recording everyone and listening out for naughtiness.

I am saying that a device that is capable of being constantly in listening mode and responding to keywords is a potential threat to privacy.

Purely from a privacy and marketing point of view we already give up huge amounts of data for free which is then used to make money for someone else.
Who uses the data? What for? Who profits?

Another example of people being fleeced for profit via information: the dna ancestry companies. You actually pay them to give them your dna. And they can make an absolute ton of cash on it - one of the big pharma companies paid 300 MILLION dollars for I think 60 genomes of Parkinson’s sufferers (you sign up to this in the small print.) the real killer application is the combination of the dna and then the many lifestyle questionnaires they send you. It’s a goldmine for pharma.

So if a company has paid upwards of 200,000 for your dna, and you’ve paid them to do so, you havent got a good deal.

The current moratorium on insurance companies using that data will end as soon as the companies in question can do so.

Your data is valuable. Something harvesting it and listening in to your family is an uncomfortable thought.

Ok all you Alexa people - I had one Alexa, Amazon Prime Music worked fine on it. I got another Alexa, and still Alexa1 had Amazon Prime music. Now suddenly Alexa2 had Amazon Prime Music, and Alexa1 will not play any bloody music except the radio.

Please don't say just swap them over, as they have different reminders set and I can't be arsed doing redoing that when I didn't change the music thing in the first place!!

I genuinely don’t understand why people show so little concern for their privacy

It's against every single human rights law there is to reconrd people wholesale like you're suggesting, and there would be no reason for a company like amazon to spend billions on an iCloud infrastructure to store everyone's recordings and manage them, it's so ludicrous it's laughable.

In addition if the British government wanted to record you in your own home, they woildnt have to rope amazon into it, they would just do it, via your phone, satellite, whatever. Honestly, think about what your posting, it's bonkers,

via your phone

Umm... well yes. Your phone also harvests information. Keywords from the text you input into almost all apps and what have you are used to drive advertising targeting.

Facebook got rapped on the knuckles recently for profiling - Cambridge analytica scandal? That was, in a nutshell, profiling via data harvesting, sorting people into groups of various assumed political leanings and then targeting the groups via tailored newsfeeds etc. People are still debating exactly how it affected the recent us election, but affect it it did.

Personal data useage is a big profit generator.

Another recent Facebook naughty step moment - algorithms to determine sexual orientation with a fair degree of accuracy.

Not a huge problem for the individual in the uk - you’ll likely get targeted marketing.

But possibly not so benign in Iran.

It just makes me think of this

Alexa responds to "Alexa, shut up" and "Alexa, you're useless". She doesn't not respond to "Alexa, shut the fuck up"

(in case you were wondering)

I have discovered you can use the app to drop in on your device, from anywhere so I can sit at my desk and drop in and listen to what's going on at home.
I caught my teenager singing Rudolph the red nosed reindeer the other day. He still doesn't know how I know this

Can’t believe I’m asking this but how do you get her to fart? She plays some weird fart song however we ask her.
Pp asking why we all say she it’s simply that it has a female voice. I call our satnav she too. Mind you I call my car he so maybe I’m the wrong person...

I have discovered you can use the app to drop in on your device

Yes, but it sounds and lights up, I don't know how your kid couldn't know. You can't drop in silently.

To get get to fart just say Alexa fart and she farts. There is also a farting skill you can enable 🤣

There are real issues for people living with domestic abuse. The idea of my softer than marshmallow dp being able to check a log of what was or wasn't said in our kitchen is creepy enough to me, so for people living in fear in their own homes, knowing they can be eves dropped on no matter where their abuser is, must be terrifying. Especially if they have to answer for why they might turn off the voice recorder. We have one that is kept unplugged in on a shelf unless the kids want a disco. I really dislike it. Dh's job is very much based on the Internet of things though so I know there's much more coming.

The idea of my softer than marshmallow dp being able to check a log of what was or wasn't said in our kitchen is creepy enough to me, so for people living in fear in their own homes, knowing they can be eves dropped on no matter where their abuser is, must be terrifying

Are people just making stuff up? There is no log of what is said at home. There is only a log of what is asked to the device.

I have an Alexa in the kitchen linked to my Spotify account. If I get a Dot for my daughters room, and upgrade to the family Spotify, can I link her account to the Dot so she can play different music in her room to what I have on in the kitchen?

@Happycamper78 do your parents have Amazon Prime? A lot of people have it for the free delivery/fast delivery on Amazon but have no idea that if you pay for Prime then you also have access to millions of free songs, tv progs and films.

If they don’t have Prime, but you do, I think you can add them to your ‘family’ and that way they can access all the songs etc too.

Even without Prime you can still listen to the radio.

Have you set your parents Alexa up so that they can make calls? If you or any of their friends have an Alexa too then your parents can say ‘Alexa, call Happycamper78‘ or ‘Alexa, call Mary’ and then their Alexa will call your Alexa and you can both chat whilst mindlessly chopping the carrots for tea etc.

Even if you don’t have an Alexa, you can still set theirs up to call your mobile. This is quite handy as a back up for emergencies, if one of them was alone in the house and fell (hopefully never happen!) then if they’re within shouting distance of Alexa they can yell ‘Alexa, call Happycamper78‘ and you can send help/dash round.

If I get a Dot for my daughters room, and upgrade to the family Spotify, can I link her account to the Dot so she can play different music in her room to what I have on in the kitchen

Yes,.,,

oh no, you now have a spy in the house LOL

How can I connect Alexa via the echo to
My calendar? Can it connect to
Mine and my husband's calendar or only 1? I just got this yesterday

How can I connect Alexa via the echo to
My cakender? Can it connect to
Mine and my husband's cake see or only 1? I just got this yesterday

I’d watch a YouTube video for that, it’s easier than a lengthy explanation. They make it very straight forward (or watch it on someone’s blog page) :)

You can both have your calendars on Alexa, but you’d need to say ‘Alexa, change to holidayingsoon’s account. Check calendar’

Really bizarre that people buy this stuff.